Turning Right and Turning Left

[MarzNC]

This is what I've been trying to work on this year. My old ways have left me beat up and slower these day...

Old dogs can learn new tricks.

I talked my primary ski buddy into semi-private lessons when he was over 60. He's a schoolmate from North Country School. He grew up skiing in the northeast and was skiing bumps fast on Bell Mountain at Aspen during high school. He's got a wonky knee with no meniscus (since high school). Bottom line is that once he had a few lessons with me with L3 instructors, he started skiing longer days.

A couple years after the first lessons we were skiing a chute with big soft powder bumps off Wildcat at Alta. When we finished, I looked up and said that without the lessons there was no way I would've skied it. What surprised me is that he said it was the same for him. The last couple seasons when he did a Taos Ski Week, he didn't put himself in the top "expert" group that spends the week skiing double-black terrain like he did the first two times. Instead he stayed a level or two down in order to continue working on fundamentals. He's pushing 70 and plans to keep skiing challenging terrain for another 10-20 years.

 

[MarzNC]

I like the moguls but feel like the trees (which are often bump-y) are often softer with 100% natural:

I started to work on learning how to ski bumps in assorted ways in order to get better at skiing in the trees. The leftover powder is in the trees. What I didn't expect is that now I enjoy skiing bumps too.

 

[JTG]

I think proper bumps are a great training ground. So many pieces of technique to put together and get right....and when you get it right it’s so satisfying. Not that my old body wants that test all that often these days. That, and it ain’t easy to find proper bumps nowadays. Need to get back the MRG!

 

[gorgonzola]

like the old saying goes "it's not that you can't ski bumps... you can't ski and the bumps prove it"

 

[Campgottagopee]

like the old saying goes "it's not that you can't ski bumps... you can't ski and the bumps prove it"

I've never heard that one

That's awesome, and so true!

 

[Kingslug]

And when you really feel up to it..you can jump into this. Upper cirque Snowbird

 

[Harvey]

I've never heard that one

I think somebody famous said it, but a quick try with the googlez got me nada.

 

[gorgonzola]

sounds like a warren millerism but have no clue.

prior to my hip issues i liked to bash bumps all day, probably contributing to its demise. I still like to ride them but am much more selective, limit my runs, and like to noodle around with trying different lines besides the zipper/troughs.

 

[MarzNC]

I think somebody famous said it, but a quick try with the googlez got me nada.

Wasn't Warren Miller. Hard to say if the guy was famous or infamous but it was all over a ski forum that no longer exists.

 

[MarzNC]

My reason to learn to ski bumps was to be able to enjoy more terrain at Alta, not Snowbird. The idea I first learned from a L3 instructor at Massanutten was to "flow like water" on the bump ridgeline as opposed to bashing down the zipper line. The lesson included instructors who were working towards passing the L2 skiing exam. Also learned from him that it takes surprisingly little bump terrain to practice absorption and extension. Of course, in VA/WV and UT there is little need to worry about what it takes to ski icy bumps. Have no interest in dealing with those.

Alta, April 2019

Timberline, WV, soft snow whales plus natural snow on a double-black (black at Taos) 2/23/21
There is a man under the arrow who probably isn't that comfortable on bumps, he was 3/4 way down the bumps